Each person in the EU consumes the equivalent of 30% more global arable land than can be considered sustainable, according to a new study. As well as providing food for a growing population, the land is also increasingly used to grow biofuel crops.

Recycling of excess heat, via ‘district heating’, has the potential to improve energy efficiency in Europe. This study mapped excess heat and demands for heat in EU27 Member States to identify regions suitable for the large-scale implementation of district heating. The authors identified 63 ‘heat synergy regions’, generally large urban zones, which generated almost half of all excess heat generated in the EU27.

Urban sustainability indicators are tools that allow planners, managers and policymakers to gauge the socio-economic and environmental impact of existing urban designs, infrastructures, policies, waste disposal systems, pollution and citizens’ access to services. They allow cities to monitor the success of sustainability interventions. This In-depth Report aims to provide local government actors and stakeholders with a concise guide to the best indicator tools currently available.

The top 10 environmental priorities for EU inland ports have been identified in a recent survey. A port’s relationship with the local community was the top environmental issue, followed by concerns over air and water quality. The survey provides the first benchmark of the environmental performance of inland ports, against which progress in their environmental management can be measured in the future.

Plastic pollution is a threat to marine ecosystems, as plastics are persistent, toxic and can accumulate up the food chain. This study assessed the abundance of small pieces of plastic in Alang, India. The authors found, on average, 81 mg of small plastic fragments per kg of sediment, which they say is the direct result of shipbreaking.

A more circular economy could reduce global levels of raw material extraction by 10% by 2030, a new study suggests. It could also drive a slight increase in overall employment levels, but the types of jobs available would change significantly, moving away from low- and medium-skilled work in the manufacturing and mining sectors and opening up more opportunities for medium- and high-skilled jobs in the service sector.

Ten years ago the European Water Framework Directive (WFD) introduced a shift in water management, placing ecology at the centre of decision-making. A new review of its implementation identifies both the achievements of the WFD and its ongoing challenges, providing recommendations on how to overcome these.

A new study has shown that agricultural products make the largest contribution to the water footprint of the EU and recommends reducing food waste, changes in diet and increased agricultural efficiencies. On average, each EU citizen consumes 4,815 litres of water per day, when the water used to produce all goods and services, including those imported into the EU, is accounted for.

Links between environmental changes and migration are extremely complex. This Thematic Issue presents key pieces of research examining the causes of environmental migration and identifying policy options for Europe in dealing with forced and voluntary relocations. The sources also examine the current state of human rights for environmental migrants and how much evidence currently exists for action at local and regional levels.

Scientists have published findings from the largest and broadest survey on sewage resource recovery conducted in Europe to date. Researchers surveyed more than 600 waste-water treatment plants (WWTPs) in Italy, which represent approximately 25% of the country’s total load of treated sewage. The findings provide a comprehensive picture of the current state of sewage resource recovery in WWTPs, revealing that just 40% of plants perform some form of material or energy recovery, and identifying several of the important driving forces behind implementation. This research provides valuable information and insights for policymakers and WWTP managers aiming to improve WWTP sustainability and close the sewage resource-recovery loop.

As the global population increases, it is increasingly urgent that policymakers and other actors facilitate feasible, sustainable solutions to the issue of food waste. This study explored the market effects of reducing household food waste within the EU. The researchers found that reductions of up to 50% by 2030 would lead to household cost savings, a shrinking agri-food sector, a mild negative macroeconomic impact and desirable reductions in environmental pressures, such as greenhouse gas emissions, land use and water abstraction.

River flooding costs billions of euros annually in the EU. When one river floods, others nearby often do so at the same time — extending the overall impact beyond the border of an individual drainage basin. With this in mind, this study analysed the spatial extent of flood events across Europe from 1960 to 2010, using data from the European Flood Database (EFD). The research presents key findings for flood forecasting, risk financing and flood-mitigation policy.

Consumers have not been spending on several use-cases online, apart from getting essential services, as the economy takes a hit due to the Covid-19 lockdown.

“Gaming traffic has increased by 50% in the last few weeks, with doubling of traffic in video streaming and collaborative work apps like Skype, Teams and Zoom,” said Ivo Ivanov, CEO of DE-CIX International, which runs an internet exchange in Mumbai.

​​ According to IAMAI's 'Digital in India' report, India had 504 million active Internet users, who logged onto the web at least once in the last one month, at the end of November 2019. In rural India, the number of accessing Internet daily had grown by 30 million from March 2019, it added.

There was significant spike in downloads and uploads per user, owing to the high volume of work and streaming content across India.

Google blocked and removed 2.7 billion bad ads more than 5,000 bad ads per minute and suspended nearly 1 million advertiser accounts for policy violations, the company announced on Thursday.

The advent of new rules for social media applications - like Instagram, Twitter, Facebook and WhatsApp - could spell the end for privacy in the Indian internet space. Despite push back from major internet companies, the Indian government is all set to go ahead with the new regulations. The rules are a bid to quell the spread of fake news and trace anti-social elements in the Indian internet ecosystem faster.

Facebook said that when people saw those warning labels, 95% of the time they did not go on to view the original content. To date, the social media giant also removed hundreds of thousands of pieces of misinformation that could lead to imminent physical harm.

The driving force is the challenges that are emerging due to substandard and unstructured data

This would not impact people traveling on temporary visas like the H-1B or L1, which are typically used to bring high-skilled workers to the United States

Since its inception in Bengaluru in 2008, Walmart Labs India has built cross-disciplinary teams engaged in cutting edge engineering, product development and data sciences.

The Ministry of Home Affairs, in its order on Friday which extended the lockdown till May 17, mandated that the local authority shall ensure 100% coverage of Aarogya Setu app of residents within the Containment Zone.

“We have attracted interest from companies such global giant Samsung and Chinese OEMs in the mobile phone segment coupled with the right set of incentives for them,” said Faisal Kawoosa, founder and chief analyst, TechArc. “The mass domestic market, which was underpenetrated for long, has provided an opportunity to these players to address local demand as well as set-up base here,” he added.

While the coronavirus lockdown is set to be lifted to May 3, you can now buy mobile phones on Flipkart.

The company said the proposed manufacturing facility will cater to the growing need for GPS trackers in sand and mineral mining. Its chief executive officer Konark Chukkapally said the Andhra government has made it mandatory for all the vehicles involved in the transportation of sand to have GPS trackers.

Egham (UK)In 2020, worldwide shipments of Internet of Things (IoT) enterprise drones (defined as flying drones) will total 526,000 units, an increase of 50% from 2019, Gartner Inc. said on Thursday.

Xiaomi's arch rival, Madhav Sheth-led Realme, has revealed plans to become a tech-lifestyle company in India next year, with introducing a bouquet of IoT products. Others are following suit too. Xiaomi has already shared how its AIoT (AI+IoT) dual strategy is going to shape its product vision.

The company on Wednesday announced systems integration (SI) capabilities including consulting, agile devOps, cloud migration, cloud capacity optimization and the Future Mode of Operation aimed at taking the communications industry to the cloud at an accelerated pace.

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in India are set to benefit from a $30 million global "anti-COVID" programme that Alibaba Cloud, the data intelligence backbone of Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group, launched on Thursday.

As Indian firms realign their focus on revenue growth, they need to leverage customer and market behaviour to place their bets on long-term, sustainable growth, a new report said.

The headcount has now come down from more than 1,000 employees a year ago, with the majority of job cuts in the wake of Covid-19 outbreak that forced shutdowns in the February-April period. The headcount comprises staff on the company’s rolls as well as those on contract and outsourced manpower.

There was significant spike in downloads and uploads per user, owing to the high volume of work and streaming content across India.

The new construction will add to Google’s existing data-centre complex in Hamina on the south coast of Finland.

The overall server market in India witnessed a Year-over-Year (YoY) growth of a dismal 0.8 per cent in terms of revenue to reach $280.1 million in the third quarter (Q3) versus $277.8 million in Q3 of 2018, a new report by International Data Corporation (IDC) said on Wednesday.

The investment follows a Rs1,715 crore infusion into Amazon’s payments and wholesale arms last month.

As more businesses yield the benefits of NLP-powered analytics and conversational interfaces, demand for single-vendor solutions will increase.

In conversation with ETCIO, Subodh Kumar, CTO, Magicbricks, shares how data comprising 75 attributes has helped the company generate 60% more quality leads

The future challenge is to develop analytic strengths that span the organisation and not just areas of expertise.

Yusuf Pachmariwala, EVP & Head Operations, Tata AIA LI talks about the use of AI and ML at the Insurer to automate tasks and reduce fraud.

An analysis of conservation management strategies in the EU identifies a number of options for increasing the cost-effectiveness of conservation within the Natura 2000 network of protected areas. More time and money should be given to implementing conservation measures than planning them and governments should guarantee conservation funding over longer terms, say the researchers.

A recent study has developed a mapping system to show the impact on habitats and species caused by construction projects, such as dams, near Natura 2000 conservation areas. Using a Greek case study, the system was able to identify risks from a dam construction project to species including otters, toads and tortoises.

A recent study has developed a method of diagnosing the environmental condition of wildlife habitats in forest areas. This allows biodiversity conservation to be integrated into the planning and management of the European-wide Natura 2000 nature protection areas.

A study of how the Natura 2000 network was implemented in the Netherlands and in Italy has been conducted. From this analysis, recommendations have been made to help other EU Member States implement and manage the network, which include providing local authorities with better information on and understanding of Natura 2000 and how to balance ecological, social and economic needs.

High quality landscape assessments of areas protected under the Natura 2000 network are critical for effective long-term management plans. In a recent study, scientists have presented a integrated assessment of a Natura 2000 site in Sicily, Italy, which not only considers preservation of environmental features, as required by Natura 2000, but also human features, such as places of historical interest or industrial activity.

New research suggests that Natura 2000 sites are highly effective in minimising the number of endangered species of concern to European conservation. The findings may reduce concerns that poor coordination between Member States in setting up the European network of protected areas has led to inadequate protection of vulnerable species.

Connectivity between protected areas is vital for safeguarding many animals and plants. New research has shown that Natura 2000 sites are well connected across provincial borders in Germany, Italy and Spain. This is the result of strong coordination from central governments combined with good regional cooperation, the study???s authors conclude.

A new decision-making aid to identify the best type of management plan for Natura 2000 sites has been developed by researchers. Using extensive data on different facets of biodiversity and human impacts, the researchers created two indices to show where conservation measures need to be integrated with socio-economic development. This study used sites in Italy as a case study but the method is widely applicable to all Natura 2000 sites, the researchers stress.

A new method for identifying forest sites to protect under the Natura 2000 network — as well as reviewing existing sites — is presented in a recent study. The modelling approach predicts the location of certain types of high nature value habitats using existing data on the distribution of key indicator species. The study demonstrates the method using the case of a German federal state, Lower Saxony.

Insect-eating bats are estimated to be worth US$ 1 billion (€0.91 billion) a year to maize farmers around the world, a new study has revealed. Not only do bats reduce crop damage by eating adult corn earworm crop pests, they also suppress fungal infections in maize ears. Bats and their habitats need to be better protected for their ecological and economic contributions, say the study’s authors.